I didn't mean so much that they aren't there, but that they often get prevented from getting the experience/contacts because of bias elsewhere in the system - and this stops them getting to the point where they're considered for many roles. It's still a problem, just a different type of problem.
You've definitely got a point there.
I think an awful lot of media creates self fulfilling prophecies about their audiences. If you assume 'black people don't read something', then it's less available, which means less people read it which means there's less demand, which 'proves' their initial premise.
Yeah, which is one of the reasons why people will eschew the traditional routes to getting their stuff out there and go a different route. Which of course means when the mainstream discovers it, it's all "oooh, look at this cool new thing" while the rest of us are standing there going, "And you're just noticing there was an audience for this now?"
A similar thing could be said about gender and sci fi as a whole. There's a huge assumption that the majority of sci fi audiences are men - to the extent that marketing etc is directed at them. However, a real look at the market would suggest it's women who form the bulk of the audience, that doesn't neccessarily get back to TPTB
Mmm, yep. Apparently at one of the first Sentinel cons in Vancouver the producers were shocked (shocked!) that all these women (with serious disposable income) were their prime audience and not the 18-49 year old male demographic. Although I had a conversation recently with someone who posited that there are more female sci-fi fans associated with series television than male fans. Apparently more male fans are drawn to movies (franchises in particular). I'd be interested in following up on something like that because it makes you question what these two audiences are drawn to in those particular mediums.
no subject
I didn't mean so much that they aren't there, but that they often get prevented from getting the experience/contacts because of bias elsewhere in the system - and this stops them getting to the point where they're considered for many roles. It's still a problem, just a different type of problem.
You've definitely got a point there.
I think an awful lot of media creates self fulfilling prophecies about their audiences. If you assume 'black people don't read something', then it's less available, which means less people read it which means there's less demand, which 'proves' their initial premise.
Yeah, which is one of the reasons why people will eschew the traditional routes to getting their stuff out there and go a different route. Which of course means when the mainstream discovers it, it's all "oooh, look at this cool new thing" while the rest of us are standing there going, "And you're just noticing there was an audience for this now?"
A similar thing could be said about gender and sci fi as a whole. There's a huge assumption that the majority of sci fi audiences are men - to the extent that marketing etc is directed at them. However, a real look at the market would suggest it's women who form the bulk of the audience, that doesn't neccessarily get back to TPTB
Mmm, yep. Apparently at one of the first Sentinel cons in Vancouver the producers were shocked (shocked!) that all these women (with serious disposable income) were their prime audience and not the 18-49 year old male demographic. Although I had a conversation recently with someone who posited that there are more female sci-fi fans associated with series television than male fans. Apparently more male fans are drawn to movies (franchises in particular). I'd be interested in following up on something like that because it makes you question what these two audiences are drawn to in those particular mediums.